Mission:The Art Committee encourages, supports and celebrates the artistic expression and diversity of sexual and gender minorities through Visual Arts Exhibitions and a Visual Arts Collection produced by and about LGBTQ communities.

Supporting and encouraging arts by the LGBTQ communities of the Greater Philadelphia Region is the Art Committee’s major focus. In addition, Queer Arts from around the United States may sometimes be included, if appropriate to the William Way LGBT Community Center’s mission.

Calendar:Regular exhibitions in the William Way lobby exhibition space showcase the work of LGBTQ artists and provoke conversation about the nature of the queer experiences and LGBTQ realities. The Art Gallery’s exhibitions change bi-monthly. The Center hosts opening receptions for each exhibition to introduce the artist(s) and their artwork to the public. All work is made available for purchase unless otherwise arranged with the artist(s).

Every year the Center is proud to display the artwork of three artists chosen as the winners of our annual juried art exhibition. This year’s competition was an open call to all local LGBTQ artists and welcomed juror Rochelle Toner who has actively been involved as a printmaker in the Philadelphia area for over two decades and has shown work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, The Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, and more.

We’re proud to announce Ed Hall, Glynnis Reed and Aaron Kalinay as the winners of the exhibition. The three enormously talented, wildly different artists will be displaying their work in our art gallery from January 15 to February 26, 2016. Both Hall and Reed are set to display work that is influenced by mythology, the former with fantastical digital illustrations and the latter with photographic and mixed media compositions. Kalinay’s more ethereal work combines paint on canvas with mixed media elements.

We’re saying a hale and hearty hello to spring with a special exhibition of abstract paintings by two local visionary artists. Queer artistic expression comes in many forms and the Center invites you to look closer at the expressionistic work of Michael Newman and Stuart Alter, two artists whose unique processes imbue their work with energy and perspective. Consider it a deconstructed rainbow.—strong points-of-view, bold colors, striking compositions. Alter, a self-taught painter, takes inspiration from the relationships between colors, creating a visual dialogue on canvas. Similarly, Newman, who is trained in Meisner-technique, approaches painting as a visceral duet between himself and his work. We’re proud to bring both artists together in a bold, exciting exhibition of local queer artwork.

Treasures Revealed: Pride Month ExhibitionMay 13-July 1, 2016

This exhibition of twenty artists and twenty artworks have been brought out from the permanent collection of the William Way LGBT Community Center. They have been stored in the Center’s art archives and many have not been on public display for several years. They represent twenty years of active acquisition of art from LGBTQI artists who have exhibited their work in the Center’s art gallery, or are works that have been given as gifts to the Center.

The diversity of the works is evident from the media used (pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, oil, paper and canvas), from the mediums (drawing, painting, printing, photography and collage) and from the artist’s focus of interest (landscape, figure, portrait and abstraction).

These art works give expression to the declarative identity of each individual portrait, as well as the power of relationships and community. They directly confront the viewer with an unashamed celebration of personal and communal joi de vivre. From overcoming alienation and social oppression, to experiencing pride filled solitude, from the exuberance of public art displays to the intimacy of private passion these art works openly display “we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”